^^^^^ left foot braking is your friend. 
UKtramp:
The one big difference anyone can appreciate is how smooth hitching a trailer is in a manual in comparison to an auto box. With an auto you have little control over how hard you get under the pin and usually goes with an uncontrolled thud. In the manual you get a much more controlled and positive clunk. i always feel a right prat hitching trailers with an auto especially on a bit of an uneven ground where you have to give it a bit of stick then jump on your brake.
^^^^ Yep, iām in and out of the cab sometimes 2 or three times for that very reason with a fully loaded tank, lower tractor suspension reverse back as far as possible till the king pin is sitting in the Y section of the fifth wheel, then raise suspension till the legs are clear then its only about 6" or so to go back to connect, even then it can be a bang but not in the same league as a 2 ft surge would result in, as you say a manual is much better, but so is a proper auto such as in a Terberg where torque control is infinitely variable.
Anecdote time, in the dim and distant past i watched spellblound a bloke doing some shunting with a Guy BigJ, windows all round so no trouble lining up accurately.
This bod however would reverse back absolutely flat out and connected up with an earthquake inducing crash, how he didnāt smash the king pin off or break his bloody neck or bounce an empty trailer up high enough to miss the pin entirely i shall never know to this day, what a plonker.
Ohhhh! āmanualā truckā¦ ā¦shouldāve read it more carefully, I thought there was a new Spanish truck on the market!
I donāt mind either way. Both have pros and cons. Im in a manual at the minute though which in the days of impending automation (yes I said it) strikes me as odd how me being a mere human can select the correct gear for the manoeuvre Iām about to make while an auto sometimes has to work out whether or not itās a toaster or a gearbox before getting the correct gear.
The way I put it is if I had used the gears on the 2800 daf I took my test in 22 years ago exactly the same as a brand new daf auto does I would have failed.
UKtramp:
The one big difference anyone can appreciate is how smooth hitching a trailer is in a manual in comparison to an auto box. With an auto you have little control over how hard you get under the pin and usually goes with an uncontrolled thud. In the manual you get a much more controlled and positive clunk. i always feel a right prat hitching trailers with an auto especially on a bit of an uneven ground where you have to give it a bit of stick then jump on your brake.
Definitely this especially in a DAF!
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UKtramp:
The one big difference anyone can appreciate is how smooth hitching a trailer is in a manual in comparison to an auto box. With an auto you have little control over how hard you get under the pin and usually goes with an uncontrolled thud. In the manual you get a much more controlled and positive clunk. i always feel a right prat hitching trailers with an auto especially on a bit of an uneven ground where you have to give it a bit of stick then jump on your brake.
Disagree, with a good auto you can hitch up as smoothly as can be. You have all the control you need, itās just all in one pedal instead of spread across two. Maybe I should do a top tips video showing how its done
Juddian:
UKtramp:
The one big difference anyone can appreciate is how smooth hitching a trailer is in a manual in comparison to an auto box. With an auto you have little control over how hard you get under the pin and usually goes with an uncontrolled thud. In the manual you get a much more controlled and positive clunk. i always feel a right prat hitching trailers with an auto especially on a bit of an uneven ground where you have to give it a bit of stick then jump on your brake.^^^^ Yep, iām in and out of the cab sometimes 2 or three times for that very reason with a fully loaded tank, lower tractor suspension reverse back as far as possible till the king pin is sitting in the Y section of the fifth wheel, then raise suspension till the legs are clear then its only about 6" or so to go back to connect, even then it can be a bang but not in the same league as a 2 ft surge would result in, as you say a manual is much better, but so is a proper auto such as in a Terberg where torque control is infinitely variable.
Anecdote time, in the dim and distant past i watched spellblound a bloke doing some shunting with a Guy BigJ, windows all round so no trouble lining up accurately.
This bod however would reverse back absolutely flat out and connected up with an earthquake inducing crash, how he didnāt smash the king pin off or break his bloody neck or bounce an empty trailer up high enough to miss the pin entirely i shall never know to this day, what a plonker.
Oh God Juddian youāve brought up one of Carryfasts pet hates
I found the manual nicer on long runsā¦on the country roads etc but with my line of work been mainly round towns, love the auto for the ease of the stop/start traffic ques
switchlogic:
UKtramp:
The one big difference anyone can appreciate is how smooth hitching a trailer is in a manual in comparison to an auto box. With an auto you have little control over how hard you get under the pin and usually goes with an uncontrolled thud. In the manual you get a much more controlled and positive clunk. i always feel a right prat hitching trailers with an auto especially on a bit of an uneven ground where you have to give it a bit of stick then jump on your brake.Disagree, with a good auto you can hitch up as smoothly as can be. You have all the control you need, itās just all in one pedal instead of spread across two. Maybe I should do a top tips video showing how its done
I generally connect to fully laden trailers and if the trailers been dropped even slightly low itās definitely harder to hitch smoother in my opinion
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P Stoff:
switchlogic:
UKtramp:
The one big difference anyone can appreciate is how smooth hitching a trailer is in a manual in comparison to an auto box. With an auto you have little control over how hard you get under the pin and usually goes with an uncontrolled thud. In the manual you get a much more controlled and positive clunk. i always feel a right prat hitching trailers with an auto especially on a bit of an uneven ground where you have to give it a bit of stick then jump on your brake.Disagree, with a good auto you can hitch up as smoothly as can be. You have all the control you need, itās just all in one pedal instead of spread across two. Maybe I should do a top tips video showing how its done
I generally connect to fully laden trailers and if the trailers been dropped even slightly low itās definitely harder to hitch smoother in my opinion
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An auto with a cold engine and no clutch is a right pain hitching up, I miss the clutch control but overall I prefer autos.
switchlogic:
UKtramp:
The one big difference anyone can appreciate is how smooth hitching a trailer is in a manual in comparison to an auto box. With an auto you have little control over how hard you get under the pin and usually goes with an uncontrolled thud. In the manual you get a much more controlled and positive clunk. i always feel a right prat hitching trailers with an auto especially on a bit of an uneven ground where you have to give it a bit of stick then jump on your brake.Disagree, with a good auto you can hitch up as smoothly as can be. You have all the control you need, itās just all in one pedal instead of spread across two. Maybe I should do a top tips video showing how its done
I for one would like to see you do that video Luke, I am no expert and would like to learn auto control in reverse as maybe I am missing something. I just cannot seem control an auto in reverse, sometimes it goes easy but at other times it has a mind of its own and smashes into the pin. Brilliant top tip video, please get it done!!
switchlogic:
UKtramp:
The one big difference anyone can appreciate is how smooth hitching a trailer is in a manual in comparison to an auto box. With an auto you have little control over how hard you get under the pin and usually goes with an uncontrolled thud. In the manual you get a much more controlled and positive clunk. i always feel a right prat hitching trailers with an auto especially on a bit of an uneven ground where you have to give it a bit of stick then jump on your brake.Disagree, with a good auto you can hitch up as smoothly as can be. You have all the control you need, itās just all in one pedal instead of spread across two. Maybe I should do a top tips video showing how its done
The key being āa good autoā!
Trouble is thereās both good and bad out there. I havenāt got the variety of truck experience of some of you, or the variety of different colour uniforms, so all Iāll say is the Renault/Volvo auto box seems ok to me. The DAF auto up to 2015 was bad, from 2015 worse. The current DAF box has good reviews but Iāve not driven one.
From the experience Iāve personally had Iād choose a 16 speed DAF over an auto every time. (As I said no experience of the latest yet) And Iād accept a Renault/Volvo auto without much moaning.
Obviously Iād moan a bit: reputation to keep up.
[emoji3]
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I imagine the same situation with leaf springs and run up ramps
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switchlogic:
UKtramp:
The one big difference anyone can appreciate is how smooth hitching a trailer is in a manual in comparison to an auto box. With an auto you have little control over how hard you get under the pin and usually goes with an uncontrolled thud. In the manual you get a much more controlled and positive clunk. i always feel a right prat hitching trailers with an auto especially on a bit of an uneven ground where you have to give it a bit of stick then jump on your brake.Disagree, with a good auto you can hitch up as smoothly as can be. You have all the control you need, itās just all in one pedal instead of spread across two. Maybe I should do a top tips video showing how its done
The key sentence there being āin a good autoā which means if youāre in a Volvo. All the rest are a joke but I aināt laughing [emoji35]
They drive me crazy. Then somebody says āwell put it in manual thenā my reply is always if they were any good I wouldnāt need to but theyāre not, especially on my type of job so just give me a proper manual and be done with it.